~ A Compendium of My Inane Ramblings, Photos & Assorted Detritus of Life

Monthly Archives: August 2007

Thursdays after school are one of the only 2 days I have to run errands and go shopping. Today I went to the “other” Goodwill in Phenix City. I’d never been to it before but figured that it couldn’t be any worse than the Columbus Goodwill (which sucks by the way). I actually had some decent luck. I found 3 vintage 70s sheets, a very vintage Mirro “Dial-A-Cookie” kit, a metal ivory candle stand that I’m going to somehow figure out how to use in my Sweet & Sinister Swap and a very cool mug (probably from the 70s) that’s marked Lobeco (from Japan).

I also found some vintage oil company (Gulf Oil) glasses that I’ll give my dad for Christmas. He collects vintage oil company memorabelia (particularly Gulf since he retired from Gulf which eventually became Chevron). I’m definitely going to have to go back there!

The day we’ve all been waiting for is here…the official start of college football! WHOOP! Ryan and I are graduates and diehard fans of Texas A&M University. We catch every game we can…which is hard living in the heart of SEC country (ugh, I hate the SEC…the nation’s most overrated conference). The Aggies kickoff the 2007 season on Saturday against Montana State (ok, we’re not earning any BCS strength of schedule points there) at 6pm in Kyle Field, Home of the 12th Man.

Gig ‘Em, Aggies!

I finally got it all pulled together and figureed out a couple of things. I suck at hanging things straight (see the drapery rod) and I’m not really digging the pillows that I made…I’m thinking I need to go with something in the blue/brown color scheme and not add any other colors in. I will be waiting for Ryan to get home so he can fix the drapery rod and hang the tie back hardware so I can use my gorgeous Ebay’ed tieback tassels.

When we moved into our house on post, I laid claim to the breakfast nook and declared it my craftnook. Taking inspiration from various scrapbooking mags, I organized my space, Ryan built me a table and I got it all ready for me to scrap to my little heart’s content.

I used vintage dresser scarves to line the shelves, refinished a found nightstand to use to hold scrap paper and stored stamps, ribbons and punches in vintage jars and containers I found at local thrift stores.

Unfortunately, I rarely, if ever scrap anymore, as I’ve gotten into sewing, quilting and embroidery. So, now I need to convert my craftnook into a sewing area. There are a few scrapping items I do want to keep because I enjoy cardmaking but I want it to primarily serve the purpose of containing my sewing supplies. So, I’m on the lookout for inspiration.

As all of you are probably aware, there have been boo–coodlesofrecallsonchildren’stoys made in China due to lead paint. Although Aidan is not much of a toy enthusiast (thankfully, my baby is a budding young bibliophile), I am still concerned because every now and then she will play with her toys and I certainly don’t want her to be exposed to lead paint. I’m also concerned about the environmental issues regarding making and then disposing of all these plastic toys when kids are done with them. I think about previous generations, my grandmother’s and mother’s generations, and the fact that they had much higher quality toys but a much lower quantity, a very edited collection. I find myself drawn to vintage tin and wood toys and handmade plush toys and softies for Aidan and our future children to enjoy. I want her to enjoy and love what she has, not be overwhelmed by a toybox full of junk, KWIM?

Yet another first from my friend, Jessilynn, my first blog award! The award is for bloggers who are always very pleasant and just plain nice, because it does matter!

I nominate these deserving individuals:

My cousin-in-law, Angela, at Robinson County Post. She’s the wife of my dear cousin, Jason, who my brother and I pretty much grew up with (along with his brother). She’s a wonderful wife, mother and friend and a Godly woman. She’s also pretty darn crafty!

Pink, at Casapinka and Pink Mohair. She has beautiful insightful posts and really cares about people (she’s an MD!) Also, the goodies she brought back from Ireland are TDF!

Finally, Karla from Ainsley’s Mom, my partner from the Summer Goodness Swaps. She’s probably one of the kindest individuals I’ve “met” in the “blogosphere.”

Jessilynntagged me to play along with the newest game…. Thanks Jessilynn, I’ve never been officially tagged before!! I am not as fortunate as she is… I have 7 letters in my middle name.

Here are the rules: 1. You have to post these rules before you give the facts. 2. Players, you must list one fact that is somehow relevant to your life for each letter of their middle name. If you don’t have a middle name, use the middle name you would have liked to have had. 3. At the end of your blog-post, you need to choose one person for each letter of your middle name to tag.

J – JoyfulAs I’ve gotten older and since I’ve had Aidan, I’ve become less concerned about things I can’t control and have learned to just live in the moment and enjoy what I have right now. Being a mother is pure joy.

A – AestheticsEven as a child, I’ve always been interested in things looking nice. I can remember arranging and rearranging the Christmas presents under the tree to look good. My mother still waits until I get home so I can put all the gifts under the tree. I guess I’m just fussy about arranging things.

N – Nerd Believe it or not, I take the moniker “nerd” as a compliment. I was in band for years so I didn’t mind “Band Nerd” and since then I’ve been called a nerd for my seemingly unending store of trivia and voracious appetite for knowledge.

I – InformedAs mentioned in “N”, I have a voracious appetite for information and knowledge. I physically crave reading material. I read probably 50 webpages/blogs a day and have a book and 3-4 magazines going at a time. I used to keep up with the news but since my brother deployed twice and now my husband has deployed, I don’t watch the news at all.

E – Educated I have a bachelors in history with a minor in English (there’s that reading thing again) from Texas A&M University (Whoop!). I have a masters in space & exploration studies from the University of Houston – Clear Lake. I’ve been working on my teacher certification, first in Texas and now in Georgia and should finish it this coming May. I’d love to get my education specialist degree and then a Ph.D. in history. The Ph.D. would pretty much be just for fun (yep, I’m a nerd) but I could definitely use it to teach on the university level. I just love school…when you stop learning, you stop living. I’ve been in school for going on 25 years and would love to continue.

C – ConscientiousDictionary.com defines this word as scrupulous, particular and meticulous…all of these words define me. I have a very strong conscience…can’t do anything without hearing that little voice in my head guiding me (it sounds remarkably like my mother). I have a tender heart for the young and those who can’t defend themselves. My heart physically aches if I hear or especially if I see someone being mean to someone who is defenseless. I am also very particular about how I do things. Call it anal if you want, I want things the way I want them.

E – Endeavour I mostly picked this one because it’s the name of the newest shuttle in the fleet, built as a replacement for Challenger. It was also the name of Captain James Cook’s ship that explored a great deal of the Pacific and “discovered” Australia. Finally, it means to “try or attempt” which is something I believe in. I am pretty adventurous and believe that trying new things is what keeps life entertaining.

As we wait for the water to boil for our whole wheat penne rigate, I planned to sit down and write a post about Aidan helping me in the kitchen and how important I think it is for kids to help out with chores…apparently, I wasn’t the only one with that plan. On Parent Hacks, they just posted a topic pointing readers to a post from Oh My Stinkin’ Heck about the same thing. They posit that kids want to help and if we, as parents, don’t encourage and help them help us, we’re hurting them more than helping them.

Aidan LOVES to help me around the house…she holds the dustpan, throws things in the trash and helps me put books on the shelf, among other things. She especially loves to help me in the kitchen. We’ve made pumpkin bread, banana bread, and today she helped with our lunch. I can give her pretty much any job, like pulling the leaves off the basil, pushing the buttons on the Cuisinart, painting the olive oil on the ciabatta bread, throwing things in the trash and putting salt in the water. She wears the same apron I wore as a child helping my mom (it’s REALLY old so I’d even bet that my mom wore it too).

I am a firm believer in children contributing to the family effort, not financially but with chores, housekeeping and cooking. When parents don’t start their kids early with tasks and chores around the house, its next to impossible to get them to start doing them when they’re teenagers. For example, I know a family that has 3 teenaged children, when the 2 oldest were in middle school the father decided that the 3 needed to start earning their (rather generous) allowance. Getting those 3 kids to do their chores was like pulling teeth. Now, several years later, the kids do basically nothing and the parents do all the work…but the kids still get their allowance. This won’t happen in our house. When I was young, my brother and I alternated nights cleaning off the table and sweeping and loading the dishwasher and wiping off the counters. We knew that we had to do our assigned job after dinner, regardless of how much homework we had or other things to do.